Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-18
IELTS Writing Task 2 question
Plastic bags, plastic bottles and plastic packaging are bad for the environment.
What damage does plastic do to the environment?
What can be done by governments and individuals to solve this problem?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Student answer (Band 5.5)
In today world many things are available in packaging and mostly the plastic is used for that. The excessive use of plastic in different way harm the nature as well as polite the beauty of nature. To resolve this matter authorities and particular person should have to take part. They can make the policies to control pollution caused by the use of plastic.
As we can not able to destroy plastic completely. Moreover, the plastic causes various types of environmental pollution. Furthermore, utmost use of plastic damage the environment and lead to any issues like global warming as well as it affects the life of living beings.
To handle this matter both government and every single person need to monitor the things closely. This monitoring will help them to understand the cause and they definitely finds the solution for this. Government can make some policies on the use of plastic. For instance, officials can setup the limit for use of plastic by any company. With this, their should be rules in communities to put plastic waste in different bin. By doing such different approaches we can control the harmful effects to some extent.
In my opinion, we need to control use of plastic on initially level from where it is manufactured. By examine the need of plastic we can able to decide where we can make its use and at which extent. For example, for the packing of water we need plastic bottles, but we can use recycling material for the packing of other stuff like chips, shampoo, food items etc. clean environment is necessary for us and we are responsible to keep its beauty and retain its quality for the future generation.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses both parts of the prompt: the environmental damage caused by plastic and potential solutions. However, the development of ideas is limited. For instance, the mention of 'global warming' and 'life of living beings' is vague and lacks specific explanation or examples. The solutions suggested, such as 'setting up a limit' or 'using recycling material', are relevant but remain superficial. To achieve a higher band, you should provide more detailed explanations and concrete examples to support your arguments, rather than listing general points.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The essay is organized into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the progression of ideas is sometimes disjointed. While you use cohesive devices like 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', and 'For instance', they are occasionally used mechanically or in ways that do not perfectly fit the logical flow of the argument. For example, the transition between the inability to destroy plastic and the environmental damage is abrupt. Improving the use of linking words to create smoother transitions between sentences and paragraphs would enhance the overall coherence.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and variety required for higher bands. You rely on basic terms like 'bad', 'things', and 'make'. There are also some awkward collocations and word choices, such as 'polite the beauty of nature' (likely meant 'pollute') and 'utmost use of plastic'. To improve, focus on using more academic collocations and precise terminology related to environmental issues, such as 'non-biodegradable', 'sustainable alternatives', or 'mitigate the impact'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Examples include 'In today world' (missing possessive), 'As we can not able to' (incorrect verb structure), and 'their should be rules' (incorrect homophone 'there'). While the meaning is generally understandable, these recurring errors in basic grammar and sentence construction prevent the writing from reaching a higher band. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and correct word order will significantly improve your accuracy.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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